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Editorial

Spot the opportunist

Ed FitzGerald’s pledge call underlines his own fickleness

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To be successful, a politician needs to be savvy. And if he’s not savvy, then he needs close
advisers who are. And if his advisers are savvy, the politician needs to listen to them.
Unfortunately for Ed FitzGerald, nothing in this formula is working for him.

This has been apparent for some time, but on Thursday, FitzGerald apparently felt the need to
remind Ohioans of it.

That’s when he challenged Gov. John Kasich to join him in taking a pledge to serve a full
four-year term if elected as governor this fall. Because Kasich has been mentioned as a potential
2016 presidential candidate, FitzGerald apparently hoped to paint the governor as an opportunist
ready to jump ship at the first chance at a step up on the political ladder.

Unfortunately, in this contest, the title of champion opportunist already has been claimed — by
FitzGerald.

His background is full of jobs left unfinished. Though he touts his background as an FBI agent,
in fact, he served only three years in the agency before moving on. As mayor of the Cleveland
suburb of Lakewood, he opposed the creation of the office of Cuyahoga County executive. But county
voters, outraged by widespread corruption that resulted in prison terms for many county officials,
voted to do away with the board of county commissioners and replace it with an elected executive.
FitzGerald did a quick about-face and abandoned his mayoral post to run for the county job. Then,
just two years into his term as county executive, he announced his run for governor.

So if anyone needs to assure Ohioans that he isn’t looking to the governorship as a
steppingstone to other opportunities, it is FitzGerald.

As Ohio Republican Party spokesman Chris Schrimpf noted, “Instead of sending letters to the
media, FitzGerald should be apologizing to the people of Cuyahoga County who he is abandoning in a
futile attempt to yet again gain higher office.”

This blunder follows a series of other missteps by FitzGerald. The most notable was choosing as
his original running mate Eric Kearney, a young state senator who owed hundreds of thousands of
dollars in back taxes to the state and federal governments, not to mention a history of being sued
by credit-card companies for unpaid bills.

After vowing to keep Kearney on the ticket despite immediate and widespread criticism of his
pick even from his own party, FitzGerald finally dumped him. But he then took a month to name a
replacement, who was even less experienced and lesser-known.

On several high-profile occasions, FitzGerald has looked to score political points by taking
potshots at Kasich in news releases or press conferences. For example, during an appearance last
summer, FitzGerald sniped that Kasich’s biennial budget was a “train wreck.” But when questioned by
the press about what he would do differently, he floundered until an aide abruptly pulled him
offstage.

With FitzGerald’s thin resume and lack of statewide governing experience, he was an extremely
weak candidate out of the gate. But his mounting toll of blunders has eroded what little
credibility he had. Lacking experience, aptitude and judgment, he is not qualified to be chief of
the nation’s seventh most-populous state, with its $62 billion budget.